MARWA EL-SHAZLY at Mashrabia Gallery

Mashrabia Gallery invites you to attend the opening of the exhibition Made in Lebanon by MARWA EL-SHAZLY on Sunday September 22, 2013 at 7:00 PM.

"I am speaking about the Lebanese pop divas, those who are being produced mainly in Beirut but also in Cairo and represent one of the cultural prides of Lebanon. The basic feature of this industry is the combination of regional Arabic tunes and the elements of international pop music. The themes tend to focus on longing, sorrow, passion and all kinds of dreamy romantic love issues. Therefore the most frequently used words are “my love”, “my sweetheart”…etc. which comes from an unrealistic world, probably as a mean of resistance or a getaway or to satisfy irreplaceable human needs which enriches the idea of dream and hope"

The exhibition runs until October 17, 2013, daily except Fridays from 11:00 AM to 8:00 PM.

Mashrabia Gallery of Contemporary Art - 8, Champollion St., Downtown Cairo
Phone 02 25784494, mobile 0100 1704554.
Opening hours: Daily except Friday 11 a.m. - 8 p.m.
www.mashrabiagallery.org

OMAR EL NAGDI at El Kahila Art Gallery

Striving to keep going against all odds and pursuing its commitment to honour and promote Egyptian artists, Al Kahila Art Gallery is glad to announce an exhibition of works by OMAR EL NAGDI. The exhibition will start on Saturday 6th of July, 2013 at 1:00 PM and will continue until Tuesday 9th at 9:00 PM.

Born in 1931, Omar El Nagdi graduated at the Academy of Venice, in Italy, in 1965 (Higher Diploma). He has a mention in the French Thesaurus Larousse since 1970. His works are part of several State collections including the Museum of Modern Art, the Ruskin Museum, the Library of Congress in USA , Museum of Egyptian newspaper Al Ahram, Museum of the White House in USA and in the private collections of the Nile Hilton Hotel, and Hotel Four Seasons in Sharm El Sheikh.

SORAYA FAHMY at Al Kahila Art Gallery

Al Kahila Art Gallery invites all art lovers to the opening of the Art Exhibition "L'Égypte d'antan" by Soraya Fahmy. The  vernissage will take place on Saturday June 22, 2013 at 6:00 PM.

Soraya Fahmy is an Egyptian contemporary artist, born in Athens in 1968. She always had the chance to travel the world since she was a child thanks to her parents' job. She graduated from the University of Geneva, after being educated in five different Lycée Francais schools worldwide. She has been painting since she was very young.

"My paintings are an emotional response to memory of people, places and of times spent with friends and family . The pleasure and joy is in the making, the layering, and the final reflection of the soul of people I met. I tell stories with my brush. Slowly, layer by layer the spirit flows into the painting. Eventually something pure seems to breathe below the layers. The time is frozen. How did the story begin? Who are these people ? I am walking in big footsteps. My footprints might be still small, but they are of importance to me and to the one whose heart is marked by my paintings".

The exhibition will run until June 29, and can be visited daily from 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM.

"RHINO STORY" by Ahmed Sabry, based on the book by Mohammed Abdelkarim, at the Mashrabia Gallery

Mashrabia Gallery of Contemporary Art invites you to attend the opening of the exhibition "Rhino Story",  paintings by Ahmed Sabry based on the book by Mohamed Abdelkarim, on Sunday, June 9 2013, at 7: 00 PM.

"If the world is divided between the totalitarian attack of progressive ideas and the defensive reactionism of traditional ideas, then enlightenment would lie in the creation of absurdity itself." (Mohamed Abdelkarim)
The Rhino story was written by Mohamed Abdelkarim during his study in Beirut/Lebanon in 2012.
He is now working on publishing a book that would include this story along with other narratives in addition to some painted pictures. This book will be presented during the exhibition.
“A hexagonal box, a blue wig and a spiral medal,the rhino is trying to keep that heritage from tampering, while the people are eagerly awaiting rhino appearance, but can they recognize the expected one?”
The anecdotal texts or narratives are the main pillars on which Ahmed Sabry decided to create this narrative collection of "The Rhino Story" as a kind of visual narratives with symbolic logic. The visual narrative structure may surpass the limits of the written scene, so the story doesn't necessarily mean the literal given meaning whether on the surface level or the symbolic level, hence, it can be said that the hermeneutical construction of the text is completed and fully delivered.
The exhibition runs until July 4, 2013.

Mashrabia Gallery of Contemporary Art
8, Champollion St., Downtown Cairo
Phone 02 25784494 Mobile 0100 1704554
Opening hours: Daily except Friday 11 a.m. - 8 p.m.
www.mashrabiagallery.org

"DIKOTOMOUS" by DOMINIQUE MAHONEY & KENZIE KINGMAN at Al-Kahila Gallery

The exhibition "DIKOTOMOUS" by American-born but Egyptian-raised artists DOMINIQUE MAHONEY and KENZIE KINGMAN opens on Wednesday May 29, 2013 at 7:00 PM at Al-Kahila Gallery. The exhibition will run until June 10.

The two female artists Dominique Mahoney and Kenzie Kingman depict the existence of two worlds through Art. The inspiration behind the themes comes from classic stories, fairytales, and icons, and resides under the umbrella of modern pop culture and current affairs.
It is a depiction of two worlds that coexist. The way they cajole, bolster, and illuminate each other’s strengths, diminishes the significance of the weaknesses.
The artists chose to use only 4 colours: red, white, gold, and black, the representation of the Egyptian flag.
With hybrid backgrounds the artists experienced a cosmopolitan upbringing that allowed them to combine and adapt to different principles, views, and philosophies. Opposing styles on each canvas results in the creation of a series of hybrid compositions. Dichotomy is the splitting of a whole into exactly two non-overlapping parts.

For more information visit www.dikotomous.com

"Multiple Kafka", an exhibition by Czech artist JIRI SLIVA

"Multiple Kafka", an exhibition of litographs and etchings by the famous Czech illustrator JIRI SLIVA is currently on display at the Arthropologie Gallery, 13A El-Maraashly Street, Zamalek.
The exhibition runs until June 6, 2013 and it is opened daily from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM and from 5:00 to 10:00 PM. Closed on Sundays.

To know more about the artist and the exhibition click here to be redirected to the excellent article prepared by Sara Elkamel for Al-Ahram.

"CÒSMIC IN EGYPT" by Xavier Puigmartì at the Mashrabia Gallery

Mashrabia Gallery of Contemporary Art will host the screening of the film "Còsmic in Egypt" (2013) by Xavier Puigmartì on Sunday May 19, 2013 at 7:00 PM.

The film is made up of a selection of short movies or visual poems, that - together - create a story. It is a craft work between cinema and painting. Xavier Puigmartì has written the stories, created the illustrations, filmed and edited the footage. The movie contains various landscapes and characters that are real while some, on the other hand, are paintings or drawings cut from paper. All scenes in the movie were filmed in Egypt. The duration of the film is 35 minutes.
Free entrance.

Mashrabia Gallery of Contemporary Art - 8, Champollion St., Downtown Cairo
Phone 02 25784494, mobile 0100 1704554.
Opening hours: Daily except Friday 11 a.m. - 8 p.m.
www.mashrabiagallery.org

HALA ELKOUSSY at Mashrabia Galllery

The opening of the exhibition "Journey Around My Living Room" by Hala Elkoussy will take place on Thursday 9 May 2013, at 7:00 PM at Mashrabia Gallery of Contemporary Arts in Downtown Cairo.

This project by Hala Elkoussy borrows its title from the book "Journey Around My Bedroom" by Xavier De Maistre in which the author undertakes a journey of two weeks in his own bedroom and proceeds to describe it as if he has never seen it before.
In spring and summer of 2012, Elkoussy went back to her beginnings as a street photographer. She photographed every day in her neighbourhood of Downtown Cairo; her interest being in the mundane, the banal, the here and now with its wealth of small traces and the gaps that don't offer unilateral meaning. The resulting installation on offer in this exhibition offers visual indices for the larger context, a detailed portrait of a city in waiting.

The exhibition runs until June 4 2013, daily except Fridays, from 11:00 AM to 8:00 PM.

Mashrabia Gallery: 8, Champollion St., Downtown, Cairo
Phone: +202 25784494

Decorated Donkeys grazing around Cairo!

The British Council, along with the Embassy of Switzerland, supports the fifth CARAVAN FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS taking place at St. John’s Church in Maadi from May 9 to May 16, 2013.
As part of the visual arts programme of the festival, 80 fiberglass donkeys will be decorated by Egyptian and foreign artists and exhibited in public places around Cairo.
The British Council in Agouza will be hosting two donkeys - one by British artist Julie Oxenforth [http://www.oncaravan.org/exhibition1/oxenforth/bio.htm] and one by Egyptian artist Dr Salah El Meligy [http://www.egyptartzone.com/about/instructors/salah-el-meligy/salah-el-meligy-biography.html], Head of the Fine Arts Sector of the Ministry of Culture.
After being displayed in Cairo, 25 of the donkeys will travel to Geneva for an exhibition at the United Nations headquarters and then on to London for a final exhibition.

For the full programme of the festival click here.

OMM KOLTHOUM by BAHGORY at Mashrabia Gallery

MASHRABIA GALLERY cordially invites to attend the opening of the exhibition " Omm Kolthoum" by Bahgory, on Sunday April 14, 2013 at 7:00 PM. The exhibition runs until Sunday May 5.

This exhibition is dedicated exclusively to the survival of an icon who touched the souls of generations of Egyptians and who has lost none of her lustre with the passage of time: Omm Kolthoum. Bahgory has been working for years on the perfect portrait of Omm Kolthoum. So it is not surprising that we find her again and again at the heart of his exhibitions, a central figure, alone or in the middle of the orchestra, with her beloved, indispensable musicians supporting and enveloping her, blending with her clothes, melting into her skin. But in most paintings the singer is alone, and her solitary presence invades the surface of the canvas, releasing an energy that seems to want to break out of its physical confines. Regardless of our judgement - extremely subjective after all - on the painter’s success in capturing his favourite model, what remains, to our delight, is the wonderful display of all the steps he took to get there.

Mashrabia Gallery of Contemporary Art
8, Champollion St., Downtown - Cairo
Phone 02 25784494 - Mobile 0100 1704554
Opening hours: Daily except Friday 11 a.m. - 8 p.m.
www.mashrabiagallery.org
 

ABDEL FATTAH EL BADRI at Al Kahila Art Gallery

Al Kahila Art Gallery has the honor to invite you to the opening of the art exhibition "South & Nubia" by the artist Abdel Fattah El Badri.
The artist will exhibit his new Nubian inspired paintings, tracing the contours of this ancient southern land and celebrating the distinguishing features of its people.

The opening will take place on Sunday April 14, 2013 at 6:00 PM. The exhibition will run until April 28.
The gallery is open from 11:00 AM till 9:00 PM and is closed on Fridays.

 

DIGITAL ARTS FESTIVAL "DI-EGY FEST 0.1"

The first Digital Art Festival in Egypt is currently taking place and will run until Wednesday April 10, 2013.

The Exhibitions and workshops will take place in the Gezira Art Centre, Manasterly Palace, The British Council Gallery, and Passage 35. The Conference will take place in the German University in Cairo and the Kids digital activities in Artellwa art space. Digital Egypt Festival Di-Egy Fest 0.1 is an intensive 15 days festival for an international group of professionals. Its mission is to create an environment designed to maximize exchanges, stimulate new ideas, encourage experimentations and produce different activities.

The arts team in the British Council has worked closely with the festival organisers and there is significant UK input in the conference and workshops from academic staff at Plymouth University and digital curators from Curated Place in Manchester. Part of the exhibition takes place in the British Council premises in Agouza and is open to the public.

For more information about  DI-EGY Festival, click here.

ADEL THARWAT at AL KAHILA Gallery

The exhibition "From the Memories of a Folk District" by ADEL THARWAT will open tomorrow, Monday March 25, 2013 at 6:00 PM at Al Khaila Gallery in Mohandessin. The exhibition will be opened until Tuesday April 9 every day except Fridays from 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM.

The Egyptian artist Adel Tharwat was born in Cairo in 1966. Professor of  Painting and drawing at the Faculty of Art education, Helwan University in Cairo. From 1990 he started to participate in the movement of Egyptian Plastic Arts and in many exhibitions and competitions of art such as Egyptian Salon of Youth, the National Egyptian Exhibition, the International Biennale of Cairo and the International Biennale of Alexandria. 

The artist organized more than fifteen private exhibitions and he was awarded many prizes such as “The grand prize of international association of art critic” and “The first prize” at the seventh Salon of youth- Fine Art Sector in Cairo.

For more information: www.alkahila.com

HALA ABU SHADY Exhibition at the Mashrabia Gallery of Contemporary Art

Mashrabia Gallery of Contemporary Art presents "On my Forest Land", an  exhibition of works from Egyptian interdisciplinary artist HALA ABU SHADY. The opening will take place on Sunday March 17, 2013, at 7:00 PM. Exhibition will run until Thursday April 11.

"On my Forest Land" is a complex project in which I am dealing with heritage and social issues deep-rooted in the different societies of the Mediterranean basin as the understanding of religion, homeland, shame and forbidden things, gender, reality and what is behind it.
Further the immense changes and on goings we pass through and the mixed cultural items resulting from it in a fast moving world.
Symbols, pictures and accents of the Egyptian society inspired me, in addition to what I myself heard and saw during the last two years. I used photographs of myself, photos of friends and friends of friends, as well as pictures from Facebook, Twitter and some more specific Middle Eastern media.
Mixing photomontage and sound art in a potentially subversive way, this exhibition aims to show many levels of the so-called "alternative reality".
(Hala Abu Shady, February 2013)

Mashrabia Gallery of Contemporary Art
8, Champollion St., Downtown - Cairo
Egypt
Phone 02 25784494
Mobile 0100 1704554
Opening hours: Daily except Friday 11 a.m. - 8 p.m.
www.mashrabiagallery.org

ASSEM ABDEL FATTAH "A Bride and a Horse" exhibition at Al Khaila Art Gallery

Assem Abdel Fattah's Solo Exhibition "A bride and a horse" will open at Al Kahila Art Gallery on Thursday February 14, 2013 at 6:00 PM.

By using a wide range of experimental techniques Abdel Fattah achieves luminous layers of richly textured color and tone. He also shows great vitality in his use of vibrant colors and spontaneous expressions. The exhibition will run till Thursday February 28.
The gallery is open daily from 11:00 AM till 9:00 PM except Fridays.
Parking is available.
www.alkahila.com
alkahila@gmail.com

XAVIER PUIGMARTÍ at Mashrabia Gallery

The exhibition of Spanish artist Xavier Puigmartí "Clouds for sale" will be inaugurated on Sunday February 17, 2013 at 7:00 PM at the Mashrabia Gallery of Contemporary Arts (8, Champollion St., Downtown Cairo, phone number 0225784494). The exhibition runs until March 14, daily except Fridays, from 11:00 AM to 8:00 PM.

The current crisis model and its special emphasis in the artistic field require new thinking strategies. Some of the most evocative are emerging around social networks, real fields of social and cultural activism. Xavier Puigmartí is an "artist of facebook". Tired of working in his studio painting and drawing, but with little chance to show his work, has decided to use this space as a virtual gallery, an imaginary museum for passing his works, landscapes with a beauty and plasticity almost magical, cloudy skies where sometimes appears Cosmic, the character that he created, irreverent and cheeky, and through which he expresses himself. Cosmic, like his creator, lives between Barcelona and Egypt and he likes to share adventures with all his friends of Facebook, an aesthetic and political journey, through which he has created a virtual artistic community. However, the high visibility of the network is in contrast with his limited economic possibilities. A worry that Cosmic transferred to his friends, upset that no one take this problem seriously. So "if there is no money" he declared with his usual impertinence "we have to sell clouds"! The idea came seeing the show windows of Cairo shops, where he discovered in their crystals, clouds painted with a very special color: Spanish white. The images of these clouds that resembled those of his paintings inspired him to create a "clouds store".
(Marta Delclós)

BOOK-LAUNCHES & ARCHEOLOGICAL EXHIBITION at the ITALIAN CULTURAL INSTITUTE

The Week of the Italian Book in Egypt, organized on the occasion of the 44th Cairo International Book Fair, will end on Monday February 4, 2013 at 6.30 PM at the Italian Cultural Institute in Zamalek with the opening of the exhibition "The reliefs of Horemheb and Ptahemwia of the Civic Archeological Museum of Bologna".

The exhibition opening will be followed by the presentation of the Strega and Flaiano Prizes and the announcement of the two Reading Committees that will take part in the selection of Strega Prize 2013 and by the presentation of the Arabic translations of "Christ stopped in Eboli" by Carlo Levi – translated by Wafaa El Beaa and published by Dar El Kalama and "The Queen of the Desert Valley", comic novel by Mila Alvarez and Irene Morfini.
Presented will be also the Italian translation of "Piano Melody" by Abo Al Maaty Abo Shareb, translated by Hussein Mahmoud e Marianna Massa and Franco Cajani's "Towards the end of line n. two"- Hungarovox Publisher.

Guests: Abo Al Maaty Abo Shareb (author of "Piano Melody"); Mila Alvarez (Archeologist); Wafaa El Beaa (Helwan University); Hussein Mahmoud (MISR University); Irene Morfini (Archeologist) and Daniela Picchi (Museo Civico Archeologico di Bologna).

N.B. A copy of one of the translated book will be drawn to 50 participants at the event.

RAMY DOZY exhibition at the Mashrabia Gallery

Mashrabia Gallery of Contemporary Art marks the beginning of the year 2013 with "Alia's Drinks", the 1st solo exhibition of the young Egyptian artist Ramy Dozy.

The pieces are the product of the artist's vivid encounters into Ard El Lewa where he stayed for six months.
Dozy explains: "The Alia project moves away from the rational mind in an attempt to search and explore a world specific and unique to "Alia". This virtual construction is a result of merging the real world with the theoretical world, expanding into visual and mental phenomena, producing a distinct visual language for Alia." The works are a result of Ramy’s immersion into Ard El Lewa, a world to him that was fascinating and novel. A popular area located in Cairo, he noticed the natives spoke differently from him and thought differently than he, even walked differently. All his associations of this place became symbolized by a young girl he had glanced at, understanding that he had physically and mentally left his world and brought into her own universe. The pieces are not a direct illustration of Ard El Lewa, but are a dialogue of the internal and familiar with the external and unfamiliar.

The exhibition opens on the 20th of January and lasts until the 14th of February 2013.
Mashrabia Gallery Adress:
8, Champollion St. Downtown, Cairo
Telephone Number: +20225784494

SAYED SAAD EL DIN at Al Kahila Art Gallery

Al Kahila Art Gallery has the pleasure to invite you to the opening of the art exhibition "Inspired visions" by the artist Sayed Saad El Din. Opening on Monday 14th of January, 2013 at 6:00 PM, the exhibition will continue till the 28th. Daily from 11:00 AM  to 9:00 PM except Fridays.

Born in 1944, he taught as professor of Fine Arts at the Higher Italian Institute Leonardo da Vinci and now he is a full time fine artist. He is a member of the Association of Fine Artists 58/127 and participated in many exhibitions in Italy, Spain, France and many Arab Countries. His works can be admired also in many important touristic areas in Egypt such as Luxor's New Bridge on the Nile.

HISHAM EL ZEINY at Mashrabia Gallery

The exhibition "Takeoff.....Landing??" by HISHAM EL ZEINY opened on December 16, 2012 and will run until January 17, 2013 at Mashrabia Gallery, 8, Champollion St. Downtown, Cairo. Telephone Number: +20225784494.

This is how the author explain the theme of the exhibition:

The plane is considered a vehicle of transportation from a place to another.  Metaphorically speaking, a transition from one life situation to the next. In this exhibition I examine the imaginary scenario of an urgent trip undertaken by our national aviation, in which Egypt Air announces its unscheduled emergency Flight no. Jan 25 heroically attempting to head for democracy.. or better still "demo-crazy". Crossing heavy weather fronts, clouds pregnant with tear gas, volcanic eruptions of anger on the ground, buildings torched and obfuscating orientation, bullets cutting the sky echoing state terror, a revolution licking it's wounds and driven by a unique surge in a proud attempt to restore national pride and freedom. Due to the breakdown of navigation systems, and the total lack of vision, no further instructions can be given during this flight. Consequently because of the uniqueness of this venture, which relies on a risky autopilot, nightmarish images of the revolution manifest in front of the passenger's inner eye evoking fields of colors ranging from dusty mudbrowns over shady and heavy greys, shocked whites as lightning, sudden splashes of red eaten by thick oily petrol blue, all immersed in sharp toxic lucidity, giving way to rhythmic waves of the reds whites and blacks of our national flag...
For now the image remains blurred, things weathered.. a ruinous state, closer to standstill due to revolutionary fatigue and lack of fantasy in a so called orthodox establishment.
And yet, the mind keeps on spinning, inner images, "counterimages" of hope, an unfinished canvas, and as it is still in the making... it has no title yet.
The works on display highlight and reflect stages of this historical voyage, its takeoff which was mostly successful… and its landing remaining a mystery.